Our 10th Anniversary Cruise on Majesty of the Seas
Written: Jul 23 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice rooms, good food & service, outstanding cruise director (Richard)
Cons: Outdated interior, limited food choices, a cheesy show
The Bottom Line: Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas provides interesting ports of call, excellent food and service, and gives first time cruisers an above average cruise experience.
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| Brendan1963's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas |
My wife and I promised ourselves we would take our first cruise on our 10th anniversary. We selected a four day cruise on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas for July 9-13 from Miami to Nassau, Cococay, and Key West. Here's our story.
We arrived at Miami International Airport and quickly located a Royal Caribbean (RC) associate standing in the terminal with a sign directing where to get our bags get on the bus to the pier. We quickly found our bags and attached the Royal Caribbean tags to them that you get in your ticket booklet. (NOTE: Although the RC ticket booklet says to attack the RC tags to your luggage before you fly to Miami, our travel agent suggested to NOT attached the RC tags to your luggage until after you get to Miami since the airline frequently rips off all unrelated tags from the bags. The booklet makes it sound like RC will gather all luggage with these tags from baggage claim and automatically put them on the bus to the pier. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. RC CANNOT DO THIS! To be safe, we attached our tags to our luggage at baggage claim.)
We then had to find the RC representative who was taking the transfer to pier tickets that are found in your ticket booklet. This was no problem, but it was very unorganized on what you were to do once you gave the ticket. Were you supposed to go someone where to wait? Did you receive a ticket to get on the bus? Did you have to sign something?
Within 5 minutes, they directed us to a waiting bus to go to the pier. The trip to the pier took approximately 20 minutes with a driver who attempted to point out landmarks over a horrible speaker system, which allowed people to hear about every third word in a heavy Cuban accent.
Everyone on the bus got very excited once we got near the pier where we could see the HUGE ship. It's not Voyager of the Seas big, but still very big.
Once at the pier, we had to wait on the bus for about 10 minutes. Once off, our luggage had been pulled out from under the bus. Again, there was no RC representative outside, so many were unsure whether we had to get the luggage ourselves or drag it somewhere else. Group consensus was to drag it somewhere else. About 30 yards away were several men and a large conveyor which would take the luggage onto the boat. They directed the group to simply place their luggage in a pile, which we did. That's fine, but then one of the guys approached me with his hand out saying "I took care of your luggage" and thus wanted a tip. This was irritating, since he did nothing and would simply pick up our bags and put them on the belt. The $1 tip got a very nasty look.
Once inside the building, we were directed to go through a long line to present our papers, passports, IDs, and such to get on board. We waited approximately 30 minutes in line before being directed to one of the many RC ticket representatives. This went very smoothly, giving us our room keys and our supercharge card. Once on board, we went to find our room (no luggage yet). Our travel agent suggested a room mid-ship and about half way up on deck 6 to reduce the effect of motion. The room was nice. The two twin beds had been pushed together to make a queen. The room was cozy and not too small for two adults. We had a nicely sized window about 4'x2.5'. The bathroom is very small however, but that's expected. There are eight drawers in a desk that should hold most clothes, along with a large closet. The room has a television, but does not pick up any US network television. CNN, ESPN, and CNN Headline News is available.
We went to deck 11 to the Windjammer and had lunch, which was nice. It wasn't obvious that there was a buffet on opposites of the restaurant. The side closest to the main steps and elevators is exposed to the outside and thus very hot and muggy even with the windows open. Go through the doorways past this area into the blessed air conditioning and you'll find another buffet here, where you can look out over the inlet out of Miami. The food was good. Fruit punch, tea, water, and lemonade were all free. Soft drinks were $1.50, but I didn't see anyone who you would order these from. Soft serve ice cream is available, which is good.
After lunch, we walked the ship looking to see what was on each floor. This was very helpful. The fitness area is nice, but smaller than I imagined with perhaps 10 treadmills or lifecycles. We went out on the pool deck where they began the gouging of the "Celebratory Umbrella Drinks" for $5.95 (but hey, you get to keep the glass"). Get ready for this. Every day, it's the same price, but a different drink, with some hook to get you to buy it. These constant pitches became annoying after awhile for those not interested. The pool on board seems extremely small -- about the size of 2-3 hot tubs.
After a beer ($3.95), we went back to the room to pick up our life preservers for the mandatory muster drill, where you have to report to your lifeboat area. One person from each room has to report to your muster captain. It's quite funny sitting around in the lounge (our report area) with hundreds of people wearing big bulky life preservers. Everyone should go for the experience. It's not painful and doesn't take too long. Take your camera so you'll make sure to get some funny pictures of your loved ones wearing those big-honking life preservers.
After the drill, we attended the excursion talk in the Chorus Line lounge, where three nervous RC social reps discussed the excursion packages ad nauseam. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
Make sure to turn in your excursion request application by 4:00 pm to ensure you get the excursions you want. They process these first come, first serve, so turn them in as soon as possible, especially if you want to do something where space is limited, such as the Dolphin encounter.
The boat left Miami at 5:00, which was really fun going down the inlet parallel to a local highway. People stuck in traffic daydreamed of taking a cruise as they waived to passengers on board.
The interior of the boat is open on decks 3, 4, and 5. Deck 5 has a small mall area that contains 4-5 small shops for clothes, alcohol, and jewelry. This is nothing like the Voyager of the Seas which has a shopping concourse area the size of 2 football fields. This deck also has the requisite garish "Casino Royale" with loud carpet, tons of mirrors, and a deafening collection of slot machines. As other reviewers have written, you do have to go through the casino to get to the Chorus Line lounge on this floor. We never gambled on the trip.
Deck 4 contains the pursers desk and more importantly the RC Online area, about 8 computers where you can surf and check email. It costs $2.00 a minute. The Mikado dining room is also on this floor.
Deck 3 contains the photo cashier and the panels where cruise photos are displayed. The Maytime dining room is also on this floor.
The interior of this open area looks out of date, with LOTS of "brass", mirrors, and glass and is a little tacky. This makes some sense since the ship was built in 1992.
Dinner was nice all four nights. We were fortunately seated with four other couples of our age. (Hi Marco, Kelly in CA, Mike, Bobbi in PA!) It did take several nights before everyone opened up and talked with everyone else. The service was outstanding! If you can't decide between two entrees, they will happily bring you some of both. Substitutions for side vegetables can be made with no problem. Your water or tea glasses will never be less than half full. The wait staff is made up of servers and waiters from 47 different countries, so they are able to speak with just about everyone. The four night cruise had one formal night and three casual nights. Tips for the waiters were handed to them on the last night in envelopes. ($3.50/night per person for the head waiter, $2.50/night per person for the assistant waiter, and optional tip for the Head of the Dining room).
We didn't see the show on the first night "El Gaucho - The South American Cowboy", but we heard good things about it. Most felt it was better than they expected. They also had the "Not so Newlywed Game", which was very funny. The cruise director, Richard Spacey is a very wild man. He hosts all the shows and is downright silly. He is constantly dancing and is extremely personable. Instead of going to the show, we walked around the ship and found our favorite night time location, sitting in chairs on deck 7 under the lifeboats.
Nassau was our first destination. I was under the impression that we would have access to beaches here, but that wasn't the case. You had to buy the Discover Atlantis/Harbor Cruise & Beach package for this, which was something like $39.00 each. We did do the Atlantis Harbor Cruise and tour package for $19.00 each. After the Harbor cruise, we walked through the very hot sun to Atlantis, about 10 minutes away. A very interesting tour guide led us through the shopping center area ($$$) and through the casino with the Dale Chululy glass sculptures. Very beautiful building. We went through "The Dig" an underground museum of fictitious remnants of Atlantis and their huge aquarium. The tour of "The Dig" and the outside area around their pools took approximately one hour. By the end, we were very hungry and went back to the boat for lunch.
After the requisite Bonine-induced 2 1/2 post-lunch nap, we went out to investigate Nassau, but it started raining and thundering as soon as we stepped off the boat.
The show that night was "Wild West Revue", which was horribly cheezy and awful. They abandoned the western theme after about 3 songs. You should have seen the stone-faced looks on people's faces. We salamandered out of the Chorus Line Lounge during the fourth song, along with many other people. The party on the deck that night was very fun with huge line dance lessons (not country) and the biggest conga line I've ever seen. Again, Richard was great.
Cococay was nice. Cococay is RC's private section of one of the islands in the Bahamas. We signed up for the Waverunner tour ($89 per waverunner), which I enjoyed, but my wife hated. This "follow-the-leader" 100 yards apart tour (No freeform wild play allowed) went all around sea around the island. Unfortunately, the ocean was rather choppy and holding on for her dear life while squeezing the throttle with her right hand aggravated her carpal tunnel in her wrists.
Once back on land, we had a delicious barbecue rib lunch with excellent potato salad and iced tea. Finding a picnic table was rather hard with the number of people on the island. After lunch, we picked up our beach mats ($10/day) and walked up the beach looking for a good spot that had available beach lounge chairs. We found a great spot under a tree with an incredible view. Within 20 minutes, we both fell asleep. We'd still be asleep if it was not for: 1) the service vehicles which drove behind us every 15 minutes, 2) waiters hawking "CocoLoco" (the drink du jour) every 10 minutes, and 3) the local roosters crowing in the bushes.
We played out in the water which was warm and relaxing.
Having being burned on the 2nd night, we didn't go to the show "And the Beat Goes On" on the 3rd night, but we did hear it was much better than the show the previous night. After dinner, they had a 50's and 60's Sock Hop, which was really fun. I still hear the Peppermint Twist with half the audience screaming "Around and Round" and the other half screaming "Up and Down". The winning side would get a free drink. ;-)
Our last port of call was Key West, which we really enjoyed. We took the 1-hour Conch Trolley Tour, which is worth doing ($9?/each). Our tour guide, Al, was excellent and funny. You get to see all the sites around town. It's a hot ride but they give everyone really cool cardboard fans.
After the tour, we walked several blocks down Caroline Street off Duval Street down to B.O.'s Fishwagon, which is an excellent restaurant for seafood and fish sandwiches. Don't judge the place by it's appearance. It looks like a junk yard, but the food is excellent.
We walked through the many shops on Duval & Whitehead Streets, which were nice, including Crazy Shirts, Del Sol, and Coach.
We went to the Key West Aquarium. Cruise passengers get a discount, so mention it. It's about $8.00 a person. I don't think it's worth it. It's very old and not much to see.
The show the last night was a comedian/magician who was pretty funny. Richard and his staff also did a Village People dance number and another Farewell skit that was funny. Don't miss his Top 10 Stupid Questions that passenger have asked him. ("Is the toilet water, salt water or fresh water? Does it MATTER? I'm NOT CHECKING!") After dinner, the gang from our rowdy table 107 went to Karaoke, which we hadn't seen too often in person. It was a very friendly crowd. I was stunned that my wife allowed herself to be pulled on the stage with the other two women from our table, where they sang "Johnny B. Goode". All of us later sang "Summer Nights" from Grease which sounded pretty good (up there).
We said our goodbyes and returned to the room to finish our packing. All suitcases needed to be packed and tagged and left outside our door by 1:00 am.
Once back to Miami, debarkation started early. We had always heard how long it took to get off the boat, but we had no problems. All luggage is tagged with many different colors. About 8:00 am, they called about 5 colors, which meant those people with luggage tags with these colors could leave the ship. We had a relaxing breakfast in the Windjammer. Once done, we heard our color called and we basically walked off the boat. Once off, we found our luggage in the baggage area and then had to turn in a customs form to the Customs official, which took seconds. We boarded a bus, which quickly got us to the Airport. We were in line at the airport by 9:20. Unfortunately, our flight to Charlotte was for 4:20. NOTE: The Miami airport is pretty pathetic. Unlike many newer airports that have lots of shops and restaurants, the terminals in Miami have none of this. Our terminal had one small newspaper & magazine area and at the other end (a long way) a nasty little Sports Bar and a small no-named fast food restaurant.
Overall, it was a fun trip that I think about often. The dinner routine did seem to get old by the 4th day of having to dress up a little, eat with 8 other people, and eat for 1 1/2 hours. We were both anxious to get back to see our two children staying with my parents.
The four day cruise on the Majesty of the Seas is an excellent shorter cruise to get the experience of just what cruising is like to see if you want to go on a longer 7 day cruise.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
Brendan1963
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Member: Brendan Bailey
Location: Cary, NC
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 1 member
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